NZ Herald's Mitch Powell and Bethany Reitsma gave their take on Whittakers new peanut butter & jelly chocolate. Video / NZ Herald
With Easter ushering in the school holidays this year, now seems a great time to highlight some of the best chocolate-centric destinations and experiences to sink your teeth into, from south to north.
Ocho
Dunedin's Ocho is a boutique chocolate factory owned by several thousand small investors who continue to prove that community ownership, fair pay for cacao beans, and fair working conditions can be the foundations of a successful business. Ocho sources cacao beans from our Pacific Island neighbours, and crafts its chocolate with a hands-on, less-is-more approach – it's all about the cacao beans and sugar, no additives are used.
General manager Angela Howell says factory tours, temporarily suspended because of Covid, will be back up and running soon, and points out one of the draws for visiting the factory shop: access to "test bars" – experimental flavours, early batches, and short-dated stock at great prices.
"With a year's worth of beans on-site in big sacks, the place smells amazing … it's a bit of a sensory overload," says Howell.
For Easter gifting check out Ocho's hot cross bun bar and solid chocolate hot cross bunnies. 10 Roberts St, Central Dunedin.
Swiss chocolatier Ines Haster at Chez Moi. Photo / Anna King Shahab
Chez Moi
Duck down the driveway on Waihī Beach's main street and look for the red and white paintwork and flower-filled window boxes – this hidden gem is Chez Moi, and inside you'll find young Swiss chocolatier Ines Haster serving her handcrafted fare.
Unit 1, 29 Wilson Rd, Waihī Beach
Patagonia Chocolates
Founded in chocolate-box-cute Arrowtown in 2005, Patagonia Chocolates now boasts four sites dishing up their own chocolate, cafe fare, and icecream. As well as legendary hot chocolates and a "chef's cabinet" laden with decadent chocolate desserts, the Rees St outlet offers stunning lake views from the upstairs dining room.
Multiple locations, visit patagoniachocolates.co.nz for details.
Makana Confections
At Makana Confections, the not-so-secret password to enter a state of bliss is "Macadamia Butter Toffee Crunch". This confectioner has shops in Blenheim and Kerikeri, from which the toffee crunch flies out the doors. The Blenheim shop sits amidst wineries, making for a sweet pause between cellar door visits.
Shop staff wander around offering tastings of various delights, including that famous toffee crunch – a genius marketing tactic as once you've tried the stuff, you cannot help but pop some into your basket. Corner Raupara & O'Dwyers Roads, Blenheim and 504 Kerikeri Rd, Kerikeri
Making the perfect cup of hot cocao at Wellington Chocolate Factory. Photo / Supplied
Hannahs Laneway
Hannahs Laneway in the capital city is quite possibly the tastiest wee chunk of metropolitan real estate in the land, with Wellington Chocolate Factory a key player. Its historic digs (built to house the Hannah footwear factory) lend definite Willy Wonka vibes, minus the creepiness. Book in for a Chocolatier for the Day tour, during which you'll learn about the bean-to-bar process, sip on a hot chocolate and make three bars of your own to take home.
Making the perfect cup of hot cocoa at Wellington Chocolate Factory. Photo / Supplied
Tours run year-round including Easter Saturday and Monday this year, when there'll be special Easter toppings on offer as well as a few other wee surprises. 5 Eva St, Te Aro. A few steps along the laneway and up a flight of stairs is Lashings, UK-trained pastry chef Jackie Lee Morris' bombastic "brownie bar" serving up, among other treats, a wide range of brownies made with 70 per cent chocolate from Wellington's Baron Hasselhoff. 1/31 Dixon St, Te Aro
Schoc Chocolates
No trip to Wairarapa is complete without a visit to Greytown's Shoc. In the 14 years he's run the business, founder Murray Langham has injected Aotearoa's chocolate scene with a good dose of fun and wonderment thanks to his interest in the therapeutic powers of chocolate.
With more than 80 flavours on offer in the tablet selection alone, a visit to this cute colonial cottage offers the chance to explore one's personality via the generously offered tastings. It's called Chocology and I'm here for it. 177 Main St, Greytown
Raglan's La La Land is a must do for chocoholics. Photo / Anna King Shahab
La La Land
A couple of bijoux spots not far south of Auckland are Raglan's La La Land – a mist-cloaked walk along the waterfront with one of its thick hot chocolates in hand is just the ticket.
2 Wallis St, Raglan
Miann
Brian Campbell has built something of a chocolate empire in the City of Sails with Miann. Sites downtown in Britomart and Fort St, the Morningside factory and cafe, and a recently added Ponsonby branch boast menus that read like a dream to any chocolate connoisseur.
The a la carte items are fine-dining level, the hot chocolate selection as long as your arm. For something a bit different, peruse the chocolate husk tea selection at Morningside. Multiple sites, see miannchocolatefactory.com for details
Chocolate Brown
When heading north, don't bypass Warkworth, instead make time for a visit to Chocolate Brown, one of the first places to marry Kiwi cafe culture with European-style chocolate crafting. Here's just one tempting reason to visit in autumn – you'll find feijoa praline chocolates in the cabinet.
"A 34 per cent couverture milk chocolate case filled with white chocolate and feijoa ganache and decorated with a splash of two different shades of green". A delicious tribute to this strange fruit that litters lawns all over this land at this time of year. 6 Mill Lane, Warkworth
